Beauty and the Beast
by StorybrookeAuthor
Summary: Part 3 of twisted fairytales. This time following Prince Francis, and his quest to become human again and find love
1. Monsters Within

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in Prince Francis' eye he was the most beautiful man to ever have existed. His room was all set up with mirrors upon every surface so that he could gaze upon himself whenever he liked. To his own mind, his mid-length brown curls and piercing blue eyes were beyond compare. Any girl would have been lucky to marry him, but he found that no one was beautiful enough to compliment his own appearance.

His parents grew desperate to find him a wife or even just someone to spend his time with, but the young Prince rejected every last woman that came to his throne. As far as he was concerned, they could be as radiant as the sun, and they still could not compare to what he found himself to be.

On a night seemingly like any other, Francis sat on his throne with a golden mirror in his hand while girls came up to him one by one to try their luck at luring the man into their arms. One claimed to have more money than he could ever imagine, one claimed to sparkle in the moonlight, and one even claimed to be as beautiful as he if he would only look up at her. Of course this last remark made the Prince look up and laugh.

"If you were as beautiful as me, then the room would resonate with murmurs of how pleasing to the eye you are. People would throw themselves at you as you throw yourself at me, but that is not the case, is it? No, you are just as common as the girl before your or the girl after. Stop wasting my time."

When he was finished speaking, the girl ran off in tears and he simply returned to gazing at his reflection. After that horrendous display from the Prince, most of the other women backed away and chose no longer to pursue the frightening man. He had clear desires toward himself and himself alone, and no woman dared try after that.

Suddenly, a woman entered the room that caused the ballroom to glow with a soft golden light. It seemed like the sun itself had manifested into a beautiful young woman in a shimmering gown just to accompany the dancers. People began discussing the mystery woman, clearly afraid of her and her strange beauty. What would she be here for if not to attract the Prince?

"I hear the Prince of France has been looking for a beautiful wife." She said calmly, her golden brown eyes so sharply focused on Francis that he had to look up. It was only then that he fell so deeply for someone that was not himself, and he was surprised. This was the girl he had been looking for so desperately within the mirror. Beauty itself was at his feet, asking for his love.

"I need look no further, now that I have happened upon the sun itself." He whispered, standing up and advancing toward her.

A small smile crossed the girl's lips and she held out her hands to him. Almost instantly, their fingers tangled and love was imminent. They were to be together and anyone could tell. Francis' mother was amazed to see that someone had finally made their precious son see reason and love.

"Tell me your name." He pleaded gently, moving a hand to cup the girl's cheek.

"Ada." She smiled, nuzzling into his touch.

"We shall be married immediately, my beautiful Ada. Walk with me a moment? I'll take you to your chambers to be prepared for the wedding."

Ada nodded gently and took his outstretched arm, following Francis out of the ballroom to the shock and jealousy of everyone else in it. Unbeknownst to the pair, a third set of feet walked along with them as they made their way to the gardens to speak about their nearing wedding.

"Ada, if not for you, I would have spent my entire life alone. Every other woman I've ever met was a speck of dust when held up to the standard of our beauty." Francis whispered, sitting down upon a stone bench next to his love.

"Is that so?" The voice of another woman snarled in reply to the pair's conversation. "You think yourself so beautiful, when it is quite clear that your heart is ugly."

Francis and Ada turned around to see the young woman who had begged the Prince to see her as beautiful only moments before. Suddenly, the woman transformed in front of them to reveal herself to be a beautiful enchantress.

"I had hoped you would see reason before I had to act, but this was agreed upon by your father and myself. If your love was born of selfishness, then I would be allowed to act upon it."

The woman pulled out a glowing dagger and plunged it quickly into Ada's heart. She let out a heartbreaking whimper before glowing brighter and transforming into a blood red rose.

"You see, Francis, Ada was not a real woman or else she would never have captured your eye. She was of my creation to prove how ugly your heart is despite how beautiful you believe yourself to be. I'd like to see how you look at yourself now, you beast."

Francis, who had been frozen in shock, turned suddenly to see he had turned into a hideous beast just as the enchantress had described him. He cried out in agony, sinking down to his knees. He couldn't bear to look at himself now.

"What have you done to me?!" He demanded, anger bubbling inside him.

"When you can learn to truly love, if you do so before your thirty first birthday, the spell will be broken. If not, then you will remain a beast forever when Ada's last petal falls."

She turned swiftly away and left the castle, leaving him with his sorrows and new found pain. He was a beast.


	2. Little Sparrow

Years passed and a village sprang up near the castle that had no memory of the royal family even existing. Life carried on for these people the same way day after day, and nobody dared break the pattern. There was no real reason to break it after all. Everyone was content living in their small little world until the day that a young merchant and his six children moved into town.

Most of the family settled into the lull of everyday life just like the rest of the town. The eldest daughters, Kenna and Juliette spent their days chasing after handsome young men in hopes to be married to them. The three boys named Christen, Sebastien, and Jacques were often in the local tavern, gambling away and usually winning it all back. Michel, the merchant himself, often went on trips to the market to sell his products and make agreements with the other merchants. The only one who seemed discontent in the village was Michel's youngest daughter, Beauty.

Beauty was not like the rest of her family, caught up in the monetary things of the world. She would much rather spend her time reading books or even travelling the world when she was given the chance. The idea of corsets and jewels and balls made her feel almost uncomfortable for she did not believe such things led to a truly happy life. The thing that bothered her above all else was the attentions of a young man in the town named Gaston. Gaston was always trying to get her to marry him, while her sisters looked on jealously.

"Why should she get noticed by him when he hardly looks at us?" Kenna and Juliette would wonder. No matter what they did or how much they tried to impress the gentleman, he was always looking past them and straight at Beauty. She was the one he wanted, and he would have no one else.

That day, as always, Beauty was quietly wandering through town, making her way to the small library. It wasn't filled with much, but it was her favorite place in the world to go to because she could travel without even moving from her chair. She could be wherever and whoever she wanted to be.

Along the way, she gasped as she suddenly found herself face first with Gaston. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, trying to walk around him when he suddenly took the book she held in her hands.

"Gaston, give that book back to me. It belongs as much to you as I do, which is not at all." She said firmly, crossing her arms over her thin frame.

"Ah my dear, sweet Beauty, you shouldn't be filling your head with such silly things as words and sentences. It's just not right." He smirked, wrapping a strong arm around her. "You should be spending more time with people."

"Like you?" She snapped, frowning up at him. "Gaston, if I wanted to spend my time with people like you, I would be out in the woods with the wolves. Goodbye."

She quickly swiped the book from his hands and darted toward the library, keeping her face to the ground. It bothered her that she had to be like that around him, but fighting his advances had only gotten harder as time went on. He was /insistent/ on having her for his bride, and would take no other answer but yes.

Once safely inside the library, she smiled as she saw the young book keeper, Aleron. He was her secret, the one thing in her life that her family could not take from her. She'd never be allowed to marry him, as the wicked conditions of the town would not allow dark skin and light skin to mix.

She quickly ran into his arms, setting the book down on a table behind him.

"Aleron, he grows more insistent by the day, and I don't know what to do about him." Beauty whispered, her hand gently cupping his cheek.

"Don't worry my dear sparrow. Gaston will never take you from me." He replied with a sad look in his eyes as he held her tight. As much as he wanted to believe he could be happy with her, he knew that his chances were slim. In this world, if he were to be caught with her, he would be killed and her prospects would be ruined. Someday, he'd have to give her up.


	3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Belle quietly left the bookshop with a new book in hand; head down in her book to cover the blush creeping over her cheeks. The dearest love of her life had proposed to her, and in a moment of great weakness, she dared to say yes! It felt magical and exciting, but the longer she dwelt on it, the more impossible it seemed.

'Papa would never allow us to marry,' she thought to herself.

These heavy thoughts carried her home as she poured through her book. It was a tale much like her own of a maiden who was destined to never marry her true love. Both she and the lady vowed to never love again if they could not have their secret love.

She carefully stepped into the house, avoiding random odds and ends strewn about the small cottage. She was the daughter of an inventor as it happened, and such clutter had ceased to bother her. Gracefully, she maneuvered her way around coils and cogs, stopping at the steps to her room when she heard her father's voice from his workshop.

"Is that my darling daughter so stealthily avoiding a hug from her aged father?" He called out in a cheerful tone.

The young girl laughed and set her book on the steps, making her way into the workshop. She brushed away a loose strand of hair, a sweet smiling crossing her lips.

"Of course not, papa. I was merely going to set my book down."

She crossed the room to give her father a gentle embrace, resting her head on his shoulder lovingly. It saddened her to know that if he knew what his daughter was up to, he would not be so kind and loving. At least, that is what she feared her father would become. She did not know his feelings upon the man she loved purely because she had never introduced the two out of fear of an incident. Nevertheless, she knew she'd have to say something soon.

"Papa, I-…" She was cut off as her father quickly stood up, chuckling softly.

"Belle, I've simply got to get my things in the wagon for the invention convention. I have to leave right away. I do hate leaving you this way, but you know this is how we get money on the table. Would you like me to bring you something?"

Belle thought about this question long and hard, sighing quietly. She could ask for something obvious like a new dress or even a new bed set, but her mind quickly decided on something easier. Something that would perhaps ease her father into a good and gentle mood, and had the subtly that she herself was living under.

"A rose, papa."

A rose was just the perfect gift, because it was beautiful but it also held sharp thorns just like the thorn inside her heart when it came to her truest love.

"I think I can manage that," her father smiled, chuckling a bit as he quickly loaded his items into the wagon. "I shall be back before the week is up, I promise."

"Goodbye, papa!" Belle calls out, waving affectionately as her father climbed upon their horse Phillipe and rode off to begin his journey.


	4. Into the Woods

The trip to the convention was something that always tired poor Michael. He had to ride nearly a two days' journey just to get there, only to sell a few items and return home with less than he'd like. As long as he had enough to satisfy his family, he didn't mind cutting a few corners for himself. His family was his life, after all, and he would do anything to make them happy.

As he wandered through the woods in his wagon, he began to yawn. He had been up all last night trying to prepare his inventions for the day, and lost track of time. He grew weary, starting to doze off at the wheel. It wouldn't be terrible to close his eyes for just a moment, would it?

Suddenly, he awoke to his horse speeding across the forest, pursued by viscious wolves. Each step took him further and further from his destination, but he had no idea what was in store for him. The wolves would soon be the least of his problems.

"Phillipe, stop! You're going the wrong way!" He exclaimed, desperately trying to gain control of the horse while also avoiding the attacks of the wolves. He had never encountered such creatures on his way to the convention before. He had to consider the fact that he had strayed too far off of the path while he slept than he wanted to admit.

He started to feel a strange rumbling under the cart, and his blood ran cold. Something was wrong with his wagon, which could only mean that he was minutes away from being in even more trouble.

"Hold on, Phillipe. I'm going to climb onto your back." He whispers, struggling to stand up on the rickety wagon and crawl slowly toward his horse's broad back. Only as soon as he was on the horse did he dare look back as the wagon wheels broke off and fell off the path, knocking two wolves to the side.

He rode on until he found himself in front of a beautiful, yet slightly destroyed, castle. It looked like nothing he had ever seen before. There were no royals in the town, were there?

"Impossible," He whispers to himself in disbelief, shaking his head. He carefully slides off the horse's back, patting his neck gently.

"Good boy, Phillipe. You found a safe space for now. I do hope we can find our way back on the path in the morning."

Getting a good look around himself, he found a beautiful garden that was mostly filled with thorns and a couple of flowers struggling to live. In the middle of the garden, he saw something that he knew was a sign that things would be okay. That thing he saw was a beautiful red rose, blooming perfectly as if it weren't the dead of winter.

"Beauty." He whispered, moving toward the rose. He could take this home to her and feel he had done what he needed, even if he hadn't been able to sell his goods. The cart was likely completely damaged, and the inventions inside couldn't have fared any better.

As Michael plucked the rose from it's spot, careful of the thorns surrounding it, he heard a growl that did not come from the wolves. It was a deep, guttural growl that sounded like it could've come from a bear or even worse.

Daring to turn around, Michael was face to face with a large beastlike creature. He stood at nearly seven feet tall, his fur so tangled and matted that it stuck close like a second skin. This was a creature that cared little for its appearance, or at least had no means of taking care of itself.

"That does not belong to you," the beast snarled, swiping the rose from the man's trembling fingers and putting it back in the ground where it had been.

"P-Please, sir. I meant no offence. I was just trying to get a gift for my daughter. Sh-She asked for a rose, you see and-…"

The man was cut off as the beast suddenly grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder, bounding inside the castle. The scent coming off of him was like a tavern and a graveyard mixed together. Never had something so pungent entered the man's nose, but that was only part of the problem. He was still being carried through corridor after corridor until he found himself deep inside the castle, nearing what appeared to be a dungeon.

"N-No, please! My children need me," Michael whimpered, looking pleadingly up at the hideous creature.

"You should have thought of that before you tried to steal from me!" The creature glared at him, pacing back and forth in front of the man's cell. Something about him made the beast curious, and he couldn't help but wonder why this man would risk his life just for a rose.


End file.
